A sense of wplace

Wplace is my new internet toy. I first read about it as a 'digital graffiti project' in this article by It's Nice That, and learned more in this ZDNet article.

Digital graffiti is the best way to describe the site to me: a huge world map that can be drawn on, pixel by pixel. Like 'real-world' graffiti, people can add anything anywhere, adding to or drawing over existing artworks.

There are lots of wonderful examples of pixel art scattered all around the globe - some very small, which probably took a few minutes to make, and some massive, which probably took weeks to make. And then anyone can come along and paint over it [technically it is against the rules, but, from reading reddit, the site has moderation 'issues'].

To add art, you start with a tiny amount of credits, which increase every 30 seconds. Eventually, after a lot of time using the site, you would have built up a lot of these credits, compound interest style.

Here is some very nice pixel art I've come across on wplace. There are lots of flags (national, regional, pride, community), lots of pop-cultural memes, football memorabilia, political slogans, nonsense brain rot, and actually excellent art - just like graffiti and street art. (The heart above is located in Algeria.)

This lighthouse is found on one of the Chastye Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk, far in the east of Russia.

This triangular rainbow lattice, along with a bunch of random cats, is located to the north of Dundee in Scotland.

A beautiful double-portrait, with various 'tarot cards' below is in the middle of the English Channel.

The whole world itself can be found in northern Brazil. 

In Amsterdam, wplace artists have replicated Van Gogh and Vermeer, the city's houses and lots of other random stuff.

Mario (I think) and blue skies are somewhere off the coast of the north island in New Zealand.

There's a whole floating stadium in France, near the border with Switzerland.

There are lots of 'lines' on wplace - national, rainbow, pride and trans flags - connected different locations. This one, to the north of Corsica, has two cartoon figures too.

Crowdsourced Continents: The World

For the past few years, I've been going to events in London asking people to draw maps of continents.

I went to a Latin American festival, Canada Day and USA Independence Day events, a UK / Australia cricket match, a European folk music festival, an African Craft Fair and a variety of Asian events.

At each, I asked people at the event to draw a map of that event's continent. Some people came from the continent, some from elsewhere.

I then took all these maps and laid them on top of each other to create a jumbly mind-memory-map of these continents. And here are all those maps, as the world.

Some were clear - Africa, Australia, South America - and some much less so - Europe and Asia.

In all, we can see that maps are made by drawing, constructs in the moment, made from memory which is patchy and personal, familiar and fascinating.

I've had really interesting conversations with the 87 people who drew these maps, and hopefully, you enjoy them too.

Crowdsourced Continents: Asia

Since 2009, I have been (on-and-off) asking people to draw maps of continents which I then overlay on each other.

I've asked people to draw South America, Australia, North America, Europe and Africa.

But I've waited a long while to 'do' Asia. Mainly as I didn't know how to approach Asia.

I had previously asked people at a SouthEast Asian festival to draw some maps, could I follow that idea with more regions. Should I divide Asia into regions and, if so, which regions?

The answer had been staring me in the face rather obviously: ask people to draw 'Asia' - a seemingly simple but complex challenge.

In August and September, I went to a variety of events where I asked people to draw Asia:

• London Korean Family Festival
• London Mela
• Vietnam Discovery
• Japan Matsuri

I met people at these events who I asked to draw Asia. And I also asked a few friends who have connections to Asia. So here is the result.

It's quite a tangle of lines, shapes, places. Asia seemed to be a difficult concept for the people I asked: where does it start and end? where does it include? 

Many people only drew their own country. 

Thanks to: Phuong, Alex, Darren, Aaron, Kris, Koa, Ekta, Hang Catie, Shuk Kwan, Raj, Suraj, Mohammad, Tina, Jeff, Sultan, Keejung, Niie, Dana, Chris and Taemin for humouring me and drawing a map.

Here are their maps individually.

And that is my last crowdsourced continent map: in my next blog, I'll show all the continents together.

Europe in USA

For many years, I've been interested in the way towns, cities, villages and more in the USA are named (I wrote about in 2010).

Reading the article which inspired that blog, I realised that nearly all of Europe was accounted for in American placenames.

So I set about making a map of some European place-names in the USA.

Sadly, there isn't a place for every country in Europe, though sometimes there are more than one, e.g. Norway, Kansas, Norway, Iowa and Norway, Maine, so I chose the place which sat best on the map.

In some cases, a country name is not accounted for, but the capital city is e.g Vienna, Georgia or Sofia, New Mexico.

And occasionally, you really can't be sure that the European placename is the inspiration - e.g. Turkey, North Carolina or San Marino, California

I'm fascinated by the breadth and number of places with names inspired by Europe. I suppose the next step is to start visiting them!

Africa, sketch maps

I've resumed collecting crowd-sourced* 'multi-maps'.

*when I first started asking people to draw maps, crowd-sourcing wasn't a popular term but it is now and works well.

Previously, I've collected maps of North America, South America, Australia, South East Asia and Europe.

This time, I looked for maps of Africa.

I went to an African Market in Spitalfields to ask stallholders, shoppers and spectators to draw Africa.

I asked twelve people to draw Africa. I've overlaid these maps on top of each other. This is the result.

Country and map prints

Every time I've sold my map cards and notebooks at a craft fair, someone has told me that I should make prints of them too.

So I've given it a go.

I'll be selling these below (and more) at the craft fair at Balham Bowls Club next Sunday 11 May from 12-6pm.

Come say hello!

Europe Re-Drawn

About 8 years ago, I started asking people to draw maps of the world. It was a fun project, and over the course of 6 years, I collected the world drawn by 80 people - the world in 80 ways.

During this, I also realised I enjoyed the idea of people drawing their own country - so I set about finding Europeans* to draw their country. And, today, I have finally finished!

The first map I uploaded was on 6 April 2005 - the Netherlands by Rolf. The last - just today, 16 September 2013 - was Bosnia & Herzegovina by Ahmet.

Over the past 8 years, I've collected maps from:

• friends (like Deirdre's Ireland or Hervé's France)
• from friends of friends (like Tatiana's Russia or Yuliya's Ukraine, Lorena's Switzerland and Felician and Lisa's Hungary)
• from strangers I randomly met (like Alice's Belgium or Jaan's Estonia)
• from visiting cultural centres in London (like Miloš' Montenegro or Gaļis' Latvia)
• from the internet (like Daphne's Greece, Mauro's Portugal or Novala's Germany) and
• from visiting lots of countries (like Fredi's Slovenia, Klaus' Croatia and Marina's Serbia or Myriam's San Marino).

You can see the story behind each map here.

And I've enjoyed it all, meeting new people, talking to them and learning more about the huge variety and diversity in Europe.

And now all that's left to be said is a very, very large thank you to all those who took the time to draw me maps.

Ahmet's map of Bosnia & Herzegovina

This weekend, Ahmet drew a map of Bosnia and Herzegovina for me.

I met Ahmet at The Abbey Centre, a wonderful community centre where a Bosnian school takes place on Saturdays.

Ahmet drew his map showing the main cities, including Bihać where he comes from.

Ahmet told me that, in Bosnia, he was a professional. But he arrived in London not speaking English, and has since dedicated his time to learning English while working as a post man - something he likened to the Japanese Kaizen philosophy.

I'm delighted that Ahmet has drawn his map for me, particularly as it's my last map and I've now collected a map for every European country.

Andrei's map of Moldova

I've been searching for a long time for someone from Moldova to draw me a map.

Finally, on Friday, I found Andrei. He drew this great map of Moldova.

I met Andrei celebrating with friends outside Wembley stadium before the England -v- Moldova match.

As he drew, Andrei told me Moldova looked like a bunch of grapes and he drew the main cities in grape-like circles.

When he finished, he explained to his friends what he had been doing. I said I had been looking for a Moldovan for a long time.

"But there are loads of Moldovans in London!" said his friend.

I beg to differ; it's taken many tries to find them....

I went to Casa Romanescu, a restaurant in deepest, northernest Edmonton. I'd read that some of the staff there were from Moldova, so it was worth paying a visit. One my first and second attempt, everything was locked up. Finally, third time lucky, I was able to visit.

From outside all looked quiet, but inside a live trio blared out traditional Romanian music. After eating, I asked the waiter if there was anyone from Moldova here. "No," he said.

But then Natalia from Moldova came over to talk to me. And so it turns put there are two Moldovas - the Republic and the region of Romania.

Later, Juliana - a level 3 beautician also from Moldova (region of Romania) - chatted to me. She had a friend from Moldova (republic). She took my telephone number and then never got in touch.

Then I discovered the Moldova UK forum where a chap called Eduard said he would draw a map. I emailed, but no reply.

So after many months of Moldovan minutiae, I have finally collected a map. My next and final person / map to find must come from Bosnia and Herzegovina. (And I've already got an idea...)

Tasos' map of Cyprus

While I was in Budapest a few months ago, I started chatting to a guy who turned out to be from Cyprus.

I quickly asked Tasos to draw his map of Cyprus.

And so now I have collected maps of all but two European countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina and Moldova.

Eva's map of Andorra, Charlotte's map of Monaco

In my quest for maps of micronations, I took a trip recently, travelling first to Andorra and onwards to Monaco.


In both places, lovely people working in the tourist offices drew maps for me. I'm nervous of tourist offices, as whenever I've asked their staff  to draw maps, they hand me one of their many printed maps.

Eva in Andorra was about to do this, but I convinved her that I wanted a hand-drawn map. "OK", she said, and set about producing the most detailed map I've got. It's in four colours and has a legend.

I explained in fledgling Spanish why I was asking for a drawn map. "It's very interesting", said Eva looking proud of her map. And well she should.

Later in the trip, in Monaco's tourist office, Charlotte drew another wonderfully detailed map of Monaco. At one point, I wondered nervously if she was just drawing Monte Carlo and not Monaco. Then I realised it's pretty much the same thing.

Charlotte seemed pleased with her map too. "We've never had anyone ask us for this before," said her colleague.

 

 So these two very detailed maps come from two very small states - and it seems very appropriate for my project to give them as much space as the whole map of larger countries like Russia or Germany.

Myriam's map of San Marino

I visited San Marino three years ago.

On my way there, I left my phone on the bus. Myriam, who worked at my hotel very kindly drove me to the bus garage to get my phone back. I spent some time talking to her, she was a very nice person.

During all this, for some reason, I didn't ask her to draw a map of San Marino. Maybe I just forgot, or felt a bit foolish.

I went back to San Marino this week, and found Myriam still working in the hotel.

She remembered me from three years ago, and then drew this wonderfully detailed map of San Marino.

Thanks Myriam!

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So now my collection of maps of European countries is nearly done - only Andorra, Bosnia, Cyprus, Moldova and Monaco are left. I'm determined to finish the collection this year - here's hoping.

Juraj's map of Slovakia

Even though it took me some time, I didn't have to look far to find someone to draw a map of Slovakia.


Juraj, who I work with, was happy to draw this great map of Slovakia. 

This takes my tally to 41 with only six countries to go: Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, Bosnia, Cyprus and Moldova.

Philipp's map of Luxembourg

There aren't many Luxembourgers in the world, but some of those in London meet at a pub every month. I went along, hoping to find someone to draw me a map.

The friendly gentlemen I found there happily helped, taking it in turns to draw the perfect map.

Luxembourg, they said, was shaped like a shoe on its side.

Phillippe's map shows some of Luxembourg's cities and towns including the small village Schengen which gives its name to Europe's open border visa arrangement. So three cheers for Luxembourg, the powerfully petit Grand Duchy.

Steve's map of Malta

About six weeks ago, I put some ads up in art shop noticeboards hoping to find people to draw maps. And happily a reply from Steve from Malta popped up.

I met him the other day and he drew this lovely map of Malta.

"Malta looks a bit like a fish," Steve told me. I'd never noticed it before, but Steve - who is an illustrator and designer - obviously has a good eye for detail. He has also put in the original Maltese names of the islands Comino and Gozo.

We spent a nice couple of hours talking design, London, accents, geography, Scotland, African fabric, and all sorts of other interesting things.

He has a great website here: http://www.leftylemur.com with some excellently interesting design projects.

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So now the idea of a new map of Europe is taking shape - I've only eight more maps to collect, with 'leads' for several of them. But the tiniest are the trickiest: Andorra, San Marino, Monaco! I may have to take a trip.

Baki's Kosovo map; Ladi's Albania map; Nikita's Czech map

I took a trip to Kilburn to the Queens Arms pub, which has recently become a centre for Kosovars and Albanians in London.

There, I met Baki and Ladi who drew their maps of Kosovo and Albania for me.

(Things were a bit complicated: all these guys were Albanian, some of them from Kosovo. So I asked Baki from Kosovo (who is Albanian) to draw Kosovo, and Ladi who is Albanian to draw Albania...)

Both were part of a group celebrating a friends' birthday. I stayed with them a while and had a wide-ranging conversation about tourism in Albania, Serbian women, mad people in Ireland who support Nazis, the NHS and how the name Adrian is very international.

Later, I realised that one of the bar staff came from Czech Republic, so asked her to draw a map for me. Nikita's response was, "are you really serious?" but she drew this great map anyway.

Gaļis' map of Latvia

In search of people to draw maps, I recently went to 72 Queensborough Terrace, a Latvian guesthouse and bar. There I met Gaļis who drew this map.

Gaļis was born in Liepāja where there are beautiful beaches. He has been living in London for 5 months, and wanted to practise his English, so we chatted for a while.

"You are most welcoming to stay," he said, encouraging me to spend a very fun and random evening, which included the following:

• A man who was considering visiting friends in Kyrgyzstan
  
  
• A man conducting anthropological experiments. I took part. He asked me to stare into my eyes in a mirror for 10 minutes. Weird.
  
  
• A strawberry cider called Fizz!
  
  
• Latvian versions of Cabaret and Those Were the Days with satirical political lyrics.
  
  
• A woman sat next to me. She told me that so many times others had tried to "con-queer Latvia". But she didn't let it bother her.
  
  
• I spent an hour talking to a man called Zinters who had fled Latvia after World War 2 to go to what he assumed was a safer Germany. From there, he was moved to England in a government guest worker scheme, first working in Yorkshire, then in Scotland. During the 1950s, he moved to Dublin, trained at the Royal College of Surgeons, worked as a brain surgeon, and eventually moved back to London. Later, he spent time in Uganda working under Idi Amin. He left there, retrained as a radiologist and eventually settled in Mansfield. Wow.
  
  
• One of the final things Zinters said to me was, "Ireland: it's for the Irish, but Britain: it's for everyone". 

An anonymous map of Macedonia

On a bus to somewhere else a few weeks ago, I noticed a closed shop with a Macedonian flag in its sign. I made a mental note to return in search of someone from Macedonia.

When I did go back, I found a very small shop selling Macedonian food and whatnot, and a man watching the charts from Macedonia on TV (Kylie Minogue was performing Get Outta My Way - fancy that.)

The man (he didn't tell me his name) did not speak English. Somehow I convinced him to draw a map of Macedonia for me. And then when he folded it up and looked like he was going to keep it, I convinced him to give it to me.

So here it is, showing Makedonia's place in the Balkans.

Burce's map of Turkey

At the weekend, I went to Turkish Fest which was held near London Bridge.

It was a jolly celebration of all things Turkish, including stalls selling watermelon, kebabs, tourism, as well as a stage with interesting musical acts. As I was there, everyone stood to sing the Turkish national anthem.

I stepped up to the London Turkish Film Festival, where I met Burce. I asked her to draw a map of Turkey.

Burce, who comes from Ankara, claimed not to be an expert at geography - but I think her map is really quite good.

Miloš' Map of Montenegro

Recently, I met Miloš from Montenegro and he drew me a map.

I was at Café Monte, a cafe-bar in Fulham with a Montenegrin flavour. The food was contintental, the waitress was Romanian, but happily, having had a word with her, she called over her colleague Miloš, who drew this map:

Miloš was very happy to draw his map. He listed off lots of facts and figures about Montenegro, adding these to his map. He was very proud to tell me all about Montenegro's unspoilt nature, its five national parks and how beautiful the country is.

Miloš then surprised me by speaking Irish! He turned out to be a big fan of Ireland, and had run an Irish bar in Podgorica, Montengro's 'capital town', as he calls it on the map.